Firebrand by Antony John Read Free Book Online

he
should’ve
said, he made Dennis and me promise to stay away from you.” She fixed me with her hazel eyes. “I keep thinking that if he’d lived a moment longer, he’d have told us he loved us too. But I guess we’ll never know. Maybe it doesn’t matter. He cared more about hurting you and your family than reassuring his own.” Her eyes were full of tears now, but she didn’t blink and they didn’t fall. “And so I said nothing.”

CHAPTER 7
    I slept poorly again, plagued by nightmares of pirates and dead Guardians. A few times I woke up hungry. Once, Griffin was beside me. The next time, it was Ananias. I needed to take a turn at the wheel too, but I was so tired. So
empty
.
    I woke with a start. The first light of morning filtered through the porthole. Ananias lay on his back beside me, hands raised, sparks spitting from his fingertips. Sometimes there were tiny flames too, but they flickered, like fire starved of oxygen. “There’s a cup beside you,” he said. “Your daily ration.”
    â€œDaily?”
    â€œWell, Alice might give you extra. Because you skipped yesterday’s meal, I mean.”
    I almost laughed at that. It seemed funny somehow, which I guessed meant I felt better. But Ananias didn’t smile at all. He just stared at his hands, transfixed.
    The cup was half-full of almost-rotten fruit and stale grains. The water canister beside it was full, though.
    â€œIs it good?” I asked, holding the canister.
    â€œRose thinks so,” said Ananias.
    â€œThinks?”
    He shrugged. “Strange things are happening, Thomas. Our elements still work, just not the same as before.”
    I was parched, so I drained it anyway. “How’s Father?”
    â€œAlive. We’ve been checking on him, but he hasn’t eaten yet. Getting him to drink was hard enough.”
    The words were spoken in monotone, as though he was holding something back. “What’s the matter, Ananias?”
    He closed one hand and made a fist. “It’s my element. The echo’s fading little by little, but I have a headache. It gets worse every time I make a flame.”
    â€œSo stop,” I said, groaning. “You should be pleased to get rid of the echo. Everyone complains about it, how much it hurts. You and Eleanor always used to say it’s the price of having an element. Now you won’t have to worry about it anymore.”
    â€œBut what if I never make fire again? What if this is the end of my element?”
    â€œYou’re more than just your element.”
    â€œAm I?” He opened the fist and channeled his frustration into a single large flame. It grew outward and then extinguished. He grimaced, either from exertion or because he wasn’t able to keep the flame alive. “A week ago, I thought I knew everything. Now our colony has gone, my element is disappearing, and Eleanor won’t speak to me.”
    â€œYou can’t blame yourself for whatever happened to her.” I waited for a flicker of recognition that I had a point, but he just bowed his head. “How’s she doing now?”
    â€œNo one knows.” Another spark from his fingertip. Another frown. “When they threw us in that hold . . . the stench and the darkness . . . it was a living nightmare. No one spoke down there. I couldn’t tell who was alive or dead.” He looked at me for the first time. “But you rescued us. You saved us, and I thought that maybe everything would be all right. But it’s like she hasn’t woken up from the nightmare yet. She’s still sleepwalking.”
    â€œShe combined elements with you yesterday,” I pointed out between mouthfuls of fruit. “That’s a good sign, right?”
    Ananias pulled himself from the floor and leaned against the wall. Planks creaked underfoot. “She didn’t want to do it. Alice dragged her there. I think she